Senior Director of Government Relations
Nick Stewart is Senior Director of Government Relations at FDD Action.
From 2017 to 2020, Nick served in senior roles at the Department of State. Previous to that, Nick served for several years in various policy positions in the House of Representatives. Most recently, from 2021-2023, he was Chief of Staff to Representative Claudia Tenney of New York, overseeing her work on the House Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means Committees.
From 2017 to 2018, as Special Assistant to the State Department’s Director of Policy Planning, Nick coordinated agency-wide implementation of key policy priorities, including the administration’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy. Following U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, Nick was appointed Chief of Staff to the Iran Action Group, where he played a leading role in developing and implementing the successful maximum pressure campaign that deprived the regime in Iran of billions in revenue. Nick was later named Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations with a broad portfolio that included Security Council strategy, peacekeeping reform, and UN sanctions implementation.
In Congress, Nick advised on a wide range of national security and technology issues. He worked successfully to increase the Department of Defense’s investments in cyber and quantum research as well as its counter-drone capabilities. He also drafted legislation related to UN reform, Middle East security, and countering the Chinese Communist Party. Nick contributed to dozens of amendments to several National Defense Authorization Acts, many of which became law.
Nick received a Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge in International Politics. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, summa cum laude and with university honors, from American University.
